anrotr What's new COMoN LUMION 6 Quiekstart Gude Products Showcase Try Buy Lumion Support Centar » Guides & News » Quickstart Guides» Topic: LUMION 5: Quickstart Gude Pages: [1] 60 Down Morten (October 01, 2015, 02:50:00 pm UICKSTART GUIDE FOR LUMION 6. Lumion Overview Tutorial comparrexurTy Please note that scenes and LS6 files saved in 6.x are NOT backwards compatible with earlier versions If you try to loa¢ scenes oF imported madel files made with Lumion tx, 2x, 3 oF 4, you will ave to remove and re-assign all materials and Movie/Photo effects in Lumion 6.x MIGRATING SCENES FROM LUMION 4.5.1 AND 5.0 Uumion 5,3 and newer allow users to configure a different combination of effects for a individual photos in Photo mods. The introduction of this feature in 5.3 means that older projects load with an empty list of effects in Photo mace. hips:orum lumion3e com qlumin-6-quickstart-guide neanrotr LUMION 6: Quiekstart Gude 1 you want to apply the same set of effects to photos in Lumion 6.3, simply save the effects in Photo mode in Lumion 4.5.1 oF Lumion 5.0 and load the effec file In 6.x via the context menu button above the effect stack, HOW TO IMPORT A MODEL Click on the green button in Place Mode to Import @ new model Import model -> Animation on/off button: This option allows you to import move/rotate/scale ‘animations via FSX/DAE, for example from AUloDesk® 3D Studio Max® (FBX is the recommended format for animated models), Its not possible to Import vertex oF bane animations (for example animated people from TurbeSquid or Axy? Design). See this Knowledge Base article for more information ee eee! ene Oa HOW TO RE-IMPORT/RELOAD A MODEL METHOD 1: Build mode -> Re-Import Mode! button 1, Seleet the smal circular Object leon af an imported model, The original location and name of the Imported file is cisplayed when the the mouse cursor overlaps the small circular Object icon 2. Click on the Re-Impart Model button. LU: METHOD 2: Build Mode -> (ALT) + Re-Import Model button -> Hold down the (ALT) key and click on this button to manually select the location/rame of the file. Use this method Ifthe fle fame oF loeation have changed, hips:orum lumion3e com qlumin-6-quickstart-guide 26anrot7 hiips:erum lumione.cr LUMION 6 Quickstart Gude METHOD 3: Edit Materials -> Context Menu -> Material Properties button -> Reload model: This function allows you to Re-Import/Reloed the model that the material you are editing belongs METHOD 4: Edit Materials -> Context Menu -> Material Properties button -> Reload mode! from a new file: If the name or location of an exported model fle (SketchUp, DAE, FBX etc) has changed, this option allows you to manually select the location/name ofthe file to Re= Import/Reloze HOW TO ENTER POSITION COORDINATES, 4) Select Objects Mode -> Select the Move mode tab -> Click on Move Object Ican. 2) Select one or more objects (Click on the small circular abject icon of the objects) '3) Enter position values for tne X, ¥ and Z axes inthe fetes, ooeCTS selected Mave Mode 4) Select Objects mode > Select the Move mode tab -> Click on Rotate Heading, 2) Select one or more objects (Click on the small circular object icon ofthe objects). '3) Double-click on a sider to type in an angle between -180 to 180 degrees, Please note thatthe sliders will not appear when trees and plants are selected. This is due to @ technical limitation which prevents Lumion from changing the pitch and bank values of these object -2-qlumior-6-quickstar- quit aneanrotr LUMION 6 Quiekstart Gude vypes. Tove Mode Rotate HOW TO CHANGE OBJECT COLOUR: ‘The Edit Properties function allows you to change the colors of many of the Transport, Nature, Indoor and Outdoor models, €.9, furniture, trees and vehicles, Objects -> Edit properties -> Click on a the circular object icon of a model -> Object Color Note that you can also copy-paste 2 color from outside Lumlan to any color selection window in Lumion. Simply press CTRL + C to copy a highlighted hexadecimal color in text format, eg, "fF0000" (red), and press CTRL + V to paste this color onto the solid bar at the right side of the color selection window. HOW TO CHANGE STANDARD MATERIAL PROPERTIES hips:orum lumion3e com qlumin-6-quickstart-guide aneanrot7 hiips:erum lumione.cr LUMION 6 Quickstart Gude Material Color Map slot: This texture slot allows you to add your own Color Map texture to your model. A Color Map texture can Include a socalled Alpha channel which can be used for a variety of purposes. Please see the section called Texture Alpha below for more information In the Color Map slot, you can also use an MP video file (maximum SOMB per file). This allows Yyou to display animated textures for things such as a TV oF a video wall [Normal Map slot: This texture slot allows you to add your own Narmal Map texture ta your made! (Read ths article to learn what a Normal Map is). If your Normal Map contains an alpha channel, Will be used as a Gloss mask, This mask type supports 8 bits ie, all 256 greyscale tones in the apna channel Create Normal Map: If you add a new Color Map texture to your material, Lurnion will ‘automatically create a Normal Map and a Gloss Mask which adds depth and better definition to the ‘material, You can click on this button to add a Normal Map manually. Flip Normal Map direction: After Lumion has ereated a Norm. cam invert the depth direction by clicking on this button Map based on your Color Map, you colorization: Between 0 and 0.5, the Color Map is tinted more and more by the colour In the colour selector. Between 0.5 and 1, the texture of the Color Map Is replaced completely by the selected Colour, To lighten/darken a surface, change the Brightness slider (right vertical bar in the Colar Selector), Gloss: Reflection blurriness vs sharpness. If you use a Gloss mask in the alpha channel of the [Normal Map, you shoulé only use a slider value range between 0 and 1.0, Slider values over 1.0 ill override the Gloss mask Intiuence, Reflectivity: Reflection amount, Between 2 and 2, the material switches to me ‘mieror-like metallic reflections, you should use a metal material such as chrome, ic reflections. For Relief: Materal roughness (provided that you use a blue normaimap) Scale: Material size. Set this to 0 if you Want to use imported texture coordinates instead of ‘automatically applied texture coordinates, Rectangular textures are always re-scaled so that they are square in Lumien. ‘More button -> Position modul -2-qlumior-6-quickstar- quit 56anrotr LUMION 6 Quiekstart Gude + X/¥/2 Offset: Adjust these sliders to change the position of the Color Map and Normal Map. ‘This is only possible whan the Scale slider value is above 0. ‘More button -> Ortentation module + Heading/Pitch/Bank: Adjust these sliders to change the orientation of the Cofar Map ane ‘Normal Map. This is only possible when the Scale slider value Is above 0, ‘More button -> Flicker Reduction module: + Flicker Reduction: You should only use this module if overlapping surfaces flicker or disappear when you move the camera. Avold extreme Flicker Reduction values - you should only adjust ita little bit, until the flickering stops (The best method is of course to make sure that your surfaces are offset 2 bit in your 3D modelling application, so thatthe flickering Is, less likely to occur in the fist place). ‘More button-> Advanced module: + Emissive: A low value brightens the material and 2 high value makes it glow. + Saturation: & low value desaturates the Color Map texture and a high values makes it more saturated. + Specular: This slider allows you te boost the specular highlights. + Texture Alpha: The three butlons let you to specify whether the Alpha channel in your Color [Map is used as 2 Reflectivity mask, a Clip mask or as an Emissive mask. By cefaul, Lumion will set the second button - Color Map Alpha Clips Object - to On. Please note that the Standard material only supports @ L-bit Clip mask, 30 each pixel is elt fully transparent (black) or fully epaque (white). If your Ciip mask contains greyscale tones, ‘they will be rounded up/down to pure black/white. Reflectivity masks support 8 bis, Le. all 256 greyscale tanes inthe alpha channel HOW TO USE THE NORMAL MAP GENERATOR The Normal Map generator automaticaly generates @ Normal Map and a Gloss Mask when you add 2 Color Map to @ Standard material. This makes the material look a lot better Its possible to flip the direction of the Normal Map by clicking en the Flip Normal Mop direction button which appears after you have chosen a new Color Map. You can also create a Normal Map Ifthe imported model already has a texture by clicking on the Create Normal Map button eer] Bie You can save and load @ material vie the material panel: ‘Material Editor -> Context Menu (Wrench icon) -> Edit. -> Load/Save Please note that textures that were added to madels outside Lumion are not saved in or loadee from individually saved Materials. You can also save al the materials of a model as @ Material Set file, and automatically apply materials to another Imported model by loading the Material Set fle provided that both models Use the same material names in your 30 modelling application ‘Material Editor -> Context Menu (Wrench icon) -> Material Set... > Load/Save Please note that textures that were added to models outside Lumion are not saved In/loaded from Material Sets hips:orum lumion3e com qlumin-6-quickstart-guide aieanrot7 LUMION 6 Quickstart Gude ern yr eee ees HOW TO WORK WITH SPOTLIGHTS enor ee ne Pee oe Creed ‘Gone Angle: This slicer specifies how wide the beam of the light should be. ‘Show light source: This On/Off button shows/hides the spotight mesh. [Night activation: All ights withthe ‘On’ property switch on at the samme time at sunset (which Is deal for streetligns for example). All lights with the Random" property switch on at @ random time Optimize for: Choose the shadow types that should be used. + Accuracy: The shadows are updated every frame (Slow!). Every time you add a light with ‘Accuracy turned on, the entre scene has to be rendered once more, Add 20 lights and the ‘scene has to be rendered 10 times more every frame, Each light uses a 10242024 pixel shadow texture + Speed: The shadow from the light uses a static $12xS12 pixel texture which is not updated (Fast, moderate memory usage) ‘+ Memory: The shadow from the light uses @ static 128x126 pixel texture which Is not updated (Fast, very law memory usage) To reduce render times, we recommend that clstant lights (8.9. st ethe lights) In your scene use the Memary ar the Speed option, so thatthe shadows are not updated every frame. If your Graphics card has enough memory, the best option is Speed. Yeu would only ever use Accuracy for Your lights if something that casts shadows Is moving near the light (a car driving pasta streetlight for example). Or ifthe light itself moves/rotates (stage lighting for concerts for example). Or if you ‘eee high-resolution shadows in certain areas (typically close-ups of interior Target Light(s): Click on a surface that you would like the Spotlight to point at. Please note that shadows from Spotiights are not displayed all the time for performance reasons. if you render an image or a video the shadows will appear again. To preview shadows from Spotlights in Build mode, do one of the following: hiips:erum lumione.cr -2-qlumior-6-quickstar- quit m6anrotr LUMION 6 Quiekstart Gude + Hole down (FB) or select the spotlight shadows in Build mode to temporarily turn on real-time ‘To preview shadows from Spotlights in Movie/Photo mode, do one of the following: + Hole down (FB) + Apply 2 Gioba’ illumination effect (New effect -> World tab -> Global liluminatian), and click ‘on Preview spotlight GI and shadows in the effect panel. «+ IF you want to view the shacows in Buid mode while seeing the Movie/Photo effects, click on the Build with effects button inthe top left corner. Depending o performance the shadow settings of the Spotlights this may have a significant impact on ‘There's more information about the performance impact of Spotights in this Knowledge Base article HOW TO USE LAYERS Layers are useful for organising your models in large projects. Thet way you can place all lights on cone Layer, all trees on another and so on. If you click on the (+) button you can add new Layers up to-a maximum of 20, ‘The Eye buttons In Bulld made allow you to show or hide models, The Arrow button is for moving selected models tothe active Layer. In Movie mode, you can also animate the visbilty of Layers in your clips with the Show Layer and Hide Layer effects. Pred cor Ad There are twe ways to work with terrains in Lumien: 41) Import your own model and tel Lumion to treat it lke a terrain, 2) Use the builtin native terrain functionality in Lum. METHOD 1: IMPORTING YOUR OWN TERRAIN MODEL Import your model in Lumion ané mark it as a terrain. Please nate that marking an imported model as 2 terrain wll require more system memory for stering adcitional collision data, so please only Use this function sparingly. When you move 2 lot of objects, performance may also deteriorate If you have marked a lot of complex imported models as terrains Context Menu -> Click on the object icon of your imported model -> Extra -> Mark as terrain - >on hips:orum lumion3e com qlumin-6-quickstart-guide aneanrotr LUMION 6 Quiekstart Gude ee Makes terran Ber Then assign a Landscape material to it This allows you paint on it just Ike the *native® terrain in Lumion Material library Pe eee en a) + iureslias METHOD 2: THE NATIVE LUMION TERRAIN The ecitable part ofthe terrain in Lumion eccuples @ 2000x2000m square. Beyond this, you will ot be able to change the height or paint the landscape. The height of your terrain fades out to 0m over the last 50m of the edges of the 2000x2000m square in order to blend in withthe fat terrain outside the editable area, hips:orum lumion3e com qlumin-6-quickstart-guidea017 LUMION 6 Quiekstart Gude You can create a terrain based on an imported greyscale Helghtmap texture via the Load Terrain Map function. ‘The resolution of the Heightmap texture shoulé be 1024x1024 pixels. The innermast 1000x1000 pixels are used to cover the 2000%2000m square. The outermost 24x24 pixels are net used. Each pixel on the heightmap corresponds to 2x2m on the editable part of the Lumion terrain If you save a standard 296 file for use as a Helghtmap in Lumion, 100% Black equates to a terrain height of drm and 100% white is equal to a terrain height of 200m. In other wards, each greyscale stop (from 0 to 255) is equal to 0.78125m. As for the height scale of imported helghtmap textures, the RGB values normally range from 0 to 1.6, but if you create a 32-bit image in Photoshop (Image -» Mode -> 32-bits per channel), you can boost the “whiteness” (and thereby terrain height range) by up to x20. hips:ierum lumens com qlumian-6-quckstart guide rya017 LUMION 6: Quiekstart Gude Ps ic cai GRRE) ner type Sct Fer 3 View Wee Hh tnap + Gaye a reo Colt ‘onKcolor Muticana 8 Bis/Channe 15 See/Channl Sotecote, esse Cro Shit-ChdeB AkeCotel anvctiec olor Table. In other words: RGB 0 to 1,0 in Photoshop = Om to 200m In Lumion RGB 0 to 2.0 In Photoshop = Om to 400m in Lumion RGB 0 to 3.0 In Phatashop = Om to 600m in Lurmion (hese) Hts Swatches) wetote Cobia Deven Supe =) R200) Elngatve To Document 2.0000 & 2.0000, ‘once you've created your heightmap, youll need to save it as a 32-bit DDS heightmap in "32¢" format using Nvidia's DDS plugin for Photoshop. Elser Peps vey @ nvinia. Make sure that you do not turn on Limit all textures to 512x532" in the Settings menu as this will reduce the resolution ofthe helghtmap from 1024x2024 to 512x512 pixels LIGHT LEAKAGE) Shadows in Lumion are added on top ofall surfaces with a small offset. The reason an offset is heeded is that the shadows will otherwise flicker (or cisplay banding artifacts) when the shadows are very close to surfaces. Its challenging to get the offset right as the optimal offset varies from scene to scene, depending en the sun pesition and the camera position. For that reason, you sometimes have to add the Shadow effect to your clip and experiment with the Shadow correction slider until the artifacts are gone, Ifthe ofset is set too high, furniture (as an example) will appear ta hover above the floor. In realty the furniture Is not hovering of course, but the offset shadows give the Illusion of it. hips:ierum lumens com qlumian-6-quckstart guide 16anrotr LUMION 6: Quiekstart Gude ‘There are three cifferent reflection types in Lumien: + Planar reflections: Very accurate on planar surfaces but renders slowly. + SpeedRay Reflections: Mostly accurate on any surface and renders fast. + Projected Reflections: Not very accurate on any surface but renders very fast, PLANAR REFLECTIONS Planar reflections are available via the Reflection effect Movie/Photo mode -> New effect -> World tab -> Reflection roe 4 This Movie or Photo effect allows you to specify up to 10 reflection planes in your scene. Every time you add 1 reflection plane, Lumion has to mirror all models & render the entire scene fonce mare, and this can get slow ery quickly. For that reason, try to use as few reflection planes as possiale, ‘Any model surface which is co-planar witha given reflection plane in your scene will ave accurate reflections, provided that you have assigned a Standard, Water, Glass material or PureGlass ‘material to it. Tis is Ideal for mierars, marble floors etc. You can also assign reflection planes to the built-in water planes in Lumion The effect includes a Threshold slider which ellows you to adjust the distance at which nearty-co- planar surfaces willbe included in the reflection plane, The tradeoff Is accuracy but It's usually not noticeable. Please note that if you have some nearly co-planar surfaces that you want to assign a single reflection plane to, you need to assign the plane to the surface whichis closest to the camera so to speak. You can aust the blurriness of a Planar Reflection by adjusting the Gloss value of the reflective material Please note thatthe following objects and materials are not reflected due to technical limitations: = Ocean, = Native Lumion water planes, Waterfall, Water and Glass materials = Special effects: Fountains, Smoke, Fire and Fog. hips:orum lumion3e com qlumin-6-quickstart-guide rarea017 LUMION 6 Quiekstart Gude ‘SPEEDRAY REFLECTIONS ‘SpeedRay Reflections are avaliable via the Reflection effect in Lumion Pro: ‘Movie/Photo mode -> New effect -> World tab -> Reflection -> SpeedRay Reflections Teer Materials that have Reflectivity and Gloss wil reect the local environment, This creates a much more accurate and defined reflection on any surface. This setting is a lot faster to render than Planar Reflections (via te Reflection effect) but slightly slower to render than Projected Reflections, ‘The reflection can apply to any surface as well as to planar surfaces, Use the Gloss slider of materials to adust the amount of bluriness inthe reflection. You do not need to add any planar surfaces to enable this reflection type to work - just include the effect and turn on the setting. Any surfaces selected for planar reflections will continue to be rendered as fully planar reflections, even if SpeedRay Reflections are turned on. PROJECTED REFLECTIONS Projected Reflections are the default reflection type in Lumlon. They are assigned to reflective surfaces that are not affected by Planar Reflections and SpeedRay reflections. The projected reflection method is only an approximation and will never provide as realistic reflections as the Planar Reflections or SpeedRay Reflections but they're very fast to render. Projected reflections in Lumion rely on @ single 360 degree panoramic reflection texture whichis projected onto any reflective materials that are not using planar reflections or SpeedRay Reflections (this includes the ocean in Lumion). In Build mode, the Reflection Control object is placed 100m above the Lumian terrain in order to provide generic reflections of the sky and entire scene. However, when you render stil images in Photo or Movie made, the 360 degree paneramic reflection texture is automatically rendered at the camera position. When you render videos, the 360 degree panoramic reflection texture is rendered at the position of, the camera at the first frame of each clip. The positon that the 360 degree panoramic reflection texture is being rendered at doss not change while the cli is being rendered. ‘To preview the reflections before starting the rendering procecure, you need to press the U-key. hips:ierum lumens com qlumian-6-quckstart guide rai6anrotr LUMION 6 Quiekstart Gude To cisable these automated functions, you can insert the Reflection Control object into your scene in Build mode, and move It around manually in Movie mode via the Move or Advanced Move effects, [Ade the Lights and Special Objects -> Utilities -> Reflection controf abject to your scene to specify the position where the 360 degree panoramic reflection texture should be rendered at. Bear in mind that you can also animate this object with the Move/Advanced Move effects in the Movie section. os el a | e|S) REFLECTIONS (U): If you press the (U) key, the sun, sky, lighting, clouds and 360 degree reflection texture will be updated, This is often necessary if you switch between Bulld/Movie/Photo mode and the Sun is In aiferent positions. I you keep the (U) key pressed in Photo/Movie mode, the Cloud effect will be rendered in (almost) final render quality. Ths Is useful If you want to see what the clouds will look like while agjusting the cloud sliders. Bear in mind that the Volume Clouds effect has to be rendered in 3 star quality to see what these clouds will look like in final rencer quality WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A ‘CLIP" AND ‘ENTIRE MOVIE"? Entire Movie versus Clips: You can apply @ Movie effect to a single clip orto the 'ntire Movie =o "Entire Movie Is selected by clicking on the large button in the lower left corner ofthe sereen in Movie mode. 1f 2 new Movie effect is applied while ‘Entire Movie’ is selected, this effect will affect all clips in your movie. The exception to this rue is f you have also applied the same Movie effect to one of your clips. n ths case, the Movie effect in the clia will averride the Movie effect that is applied to ‘Entire Movie HOW DO YOU ANIMATE MOVIE EFFECTS? In Movie mode, use the small button withthe ‘sine wave’ symbol to the right ofthe effect sliders to add/delete keyframes. Move the timetine to the desiree position, and set a keyframe to record the value of the desired slider for that point along the timeline. Then move the timeline to @ new position, create another keyframe and set the slider value. Repeat as needed. hips:orum lumion3e com qlumin-6-quickstart-guide wieanrotr LUMION 6: Quiekstart Gude Remove keyframe ores MOVIE MODE TIPS Double-cllcking on a clip thumbnall image: This allows you to edit the clip without having to click fn the Eel clip button Inthe top-left corner. Build with effects: This button in Photo/Movie mode allows you to preview effects in Build mode: Deg HOW TO SAVE/LOAD MOVIE & PHOTO EFFECTS Here's how fo eave and load Movie & Photo effects Movie/Photo mode -> Context Menu (Wrench Icon) -> File. > Load effects/Save effects HOW TO CHANGE THE RENDER QUALITY Frau ity BM eek ee estar quality: Draft quality * Good quality ** Production quality with 4 sub-samples *=* Produetion quality with 8 sub-samples *=* ‘Sestar quality: Production quality with 36 sub-samples hip:orum umion3e.comi--qlumion-6-quickstart guide 1916anrotr Pages: [1] Go Up LUMION 6 Quiekstart Gude * Global llumination and the Volume Clouds effect will ot look right. Sky, sun and clouds will remain stati, Global illumination and the Volume Clouds effect will not look right. ‘+ Fewer sub-samples par frame will result in lower quality ant-aliasing, shadows, depth of Feld, ‘motion lur, leaves on trees/plants, hair/semi-transparent parts on the 30 people and volume clouds. For optimal results, you should render final videos in 5-star quality. {Quality rendering of clouds, moon and stars. The clouds, moon and stars will render at a lower qualty n videos/images by default, even if you set Final output quality to 3 stars or more. To set the sky to the best possible render quality, please ‘36d a Cloua effect and turn on HQ Clouds In movie render (slow) BACKGROUND RENDERING Lumion always renders movies and image sequences in the background (which correspond to the [MPa and Images tabs in Movie mode), 50 that you can check your emails etc while It Is rendering Background rendering ls net supported when rendering a still mage via Photo moce or the Single tad in Movie mode IMPORTANT: Please follow these instructions when you render videos or Image sequences to lensure that the background rendering process works as expected! + Do not switch to another program until the First image Is done rendering, + Avoid maving/ce-sizing/minimizing the Lurien window. + Do not bring up the Task Manager. + Do not click on the Show Desktop button in the lower right corner of Windows, Doing any of the above will cause Lumion to lose the connection tothe graphics card and will reset the exposure in Lumion when rencering is resumed which means that the video has to be rendered from seratch again It your PC switches to the screensaver of to the Windows login screen after a few minutes, rendering will also be interrupted. You can prevent this from happening by running the Windows Media Player in the backgroune (wi ‘some music set to repeat). Luin Support Centar » Gudes & News » Quickstart Guldes» Topic: LUMION : Quiekstart Gude Buy Lumion ip cents Newsletter Vsvalzation FAQ Archive Architectural Tutorial Videos Blog Rendering Vacanc Lanescap Legal info Design| Search Urban Panning 30 Rendering Senware Render tar hips:orum lumion3e com qlumin-6-quickstart-guide Supported tools ‘Autodesk Revit CGraphisoh Archicad Nemetscheck Alba Nemetscneck Vectorwork 3D Stucio Max (Other CAD Tooke ri8